The development of the bi-directional support system for the homecare patients by using Skype

我们一直专注于利用资讯科技作为工具，支援家居护理失智症病人及其照顾者。在日本，信息技术通常被视为一种“纯粹的”技术。目前主要应用于利用GPS系统跟踪流浪痴呆患者，但其在临床医学领域的实用性尚未得到充分认识。我们认为，开发一种将医护人员和家庭护理患者双向连接起来的新系统，是遏制不断增长的医疗成本、提高患者和护理人员福祉的关键。在这个研究计划中，我们利用FletsPhone（由NTT西日本）作为一个简单的便携式电视电话。我们对痴呆患者（京都大学医院）实施干预计划，每周一次，持续3个月，检查健康状况，并利用FletsPhone的触摸面板系统进行康复计划。虽然与对照组相比，认知得分没有明显提高，但PGC道德量表得分有一定程度的提高。通过电视镜头，患者和护理人员对干预表现出很高的满意度。本研究结果显示，以资讯科技为基础的电视摄影机对家庭照护病人及照护者的干预是有效的。该方法具有良好的成本效益，可在临床医学领域推广应用。

We have been focusing on the usefulness of information technology(IT) as a tool to support the homecare patients of dementia and their caregivers. IT is often regarded as a"mere"technology in Japan. It is mainly used in tracking the wandering dementia patients using GPS system, however, its usefulness is not yet well understood in the field of clinical medicine. We believe that development of a new system which connects medical staff and homecare patients bi-directionally is a key to curb growing medical costs and increase the well-being of the patients and caregivers. In this research proposal, we utilized FletsPhone(by NTT West Japan) as an easy and portable TV phone. We performed the intervention program for dementia patients(Kyoto University Hospital) once a week for 3 months to check health status and give a rehabilitation program utilizing the touch panel system of FletsPhone. Although the cognitive score was not improved significantly compared to the control group, the score of PGC Moral Scale increased to some extent. The patients and caregivers showed great satisfaction about the intervention via TV camera. From this result we conclude that the intervention program using IT-based TV camera is effective to support homecare patients and caregivers. The cost-effectiveness was excellent and should be utilized in the field of clinical medicine widely.